White House Down
Directed By: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Joey King, Jason Clark, Maggie Gyellenhaal, Richard Jenkins, James Woods
I’m a fan of Roland Emmerich movies. They are fun, action-packed, destructive, ridiculous, and always involving a family with a cute child in probable peril. This is exactly how I’d describe White House Down. Ridiculous and fun.
Things I Didn’t Like About WHD:
1) Jamie Foxx Wasn’t Believable As The President: I’m not saying he’s not a good actor. I’m not even saying I DIDN’T like him in this movie, it’s just, he is not believable as a President. Bill Pullman had the weight of the World on his shoulders in Independence Day, and you could tell. He was heavy with burden. Maybe it was because of direction, but Foxx just didn’t feel like the president. I’m not saying he had to be uber-serious, he did add flavor to the role, I just wish he FELT more like the president.
2) Over The Top Ridiculous Situations: I know it was supposed to be ridiculous, but *SPOILER ALERT* a car chase around a fountain? Seriously? Seriously? SERIOUSLY!!
3) One Too Many Twists: Sometimes a movie has too many twists. It’s so twisty it just becomes annoying. Why can’t the villain just be the villain sometimes? Why can’t the bad guy just be a bad guy. This is why I disliked The Dark Knight Rises so much. The Joker was just a bad guy, operating of his own volition. Bane was the bad guy for 95% of the movie and in the end he wasn’t even the big bad. Just let the bad guy be a bad guy, for crying out loud.
4) If You’re Going To Put Channing Tatum In A Movie, He Should Be Shirtless: At least once. He may not be the best of actors, but he has other assets people! Other assets.
What I Liked About The Movie
1) It Was In On Its Own Ridiculous Joke: I mean, the White House is under fire and Channing Tatum a rejected Secret Service Cantidate is the only person who can save the president well…and young his daughter. But the movie understood exactly what it was and just ran with it. That made it fun. Brainless exciting fun. That’s ultimately where Olympus Has Fallen failed. It took itself way too seriously. It thought it was a political action thriller, when, let’s face it, it wasn’t. Any movie that has the President firing a bazooka is a winner in my book.
2) Joey King: Who doesn’t like a sassy little girl? King brought life to the story. She was strong, feisty, and she actually got her own story line apart from the typical, “Dad needs to save me” storyline. She added both comedic relief and a great storyline to the movie. In fact this movie had some great actors in it. I’ll take Channing Tatum over Gerard Butler any day.
3) The Movie Had A Sense Of Humor: The movie was funny. Not only was the movie in on the joke, but the characters/actors were too. The humor gave you characters to root for, even the smallest of characters. It made the movie charming.
If I had to pick which movie to watch again, it would hands down be White House Down. It’s clearly the better movie. Roland Emmerich knows how to build character and give you people to root for. It may be ridiculous, and it may make you laugh all the way throughout the movie, but you’re going to come out having some good stupid fun, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Rating: 3 ½ Stars
PS: If that doesn’t convince you to watch this movie, maybe this will:
Rants Of A Crazy Person 